Reddick Survives Chaotic Indy Road Course

The Verizon 200 marked the second time the NASCAR Cup Series raced on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While not as iconic as the Indy oval, the track has produced memorable races with wild restarts and unpredictable finishes.

LAP 1: Tyler Reddick secured the P1 starting position in qualifying on Saturday and led the field to the green flag. Reddick accelerated quickly and cleanly, pulling away from the others as the field went 5-wide in Turn 1.

LAP 5: After spinning on the first lap, Denny Hamlin’s bad luck continued when he went off course and had to detour through an access road to rejoin the track. Hamlin fell to the 35th position once he resumed racing.

LAP 12: Reddick surrendered the lead to pit before the end of the stage, as did a handful of other frontrunners including Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher. Chase Briscoe inherited the top spot.

STAGE 1 END – LAP 15: Briscoe won the stage, earning a playoff point and 10 regular-season points. Behind him – Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Chase Elliott also finished in the Top 5 at the end of the segment. Ryan Blaney picked up the lead after the stage-break caution and remained in P1 during the restart.

STAGE 2 END – LAP 35: Similar to the previous stage, the leader and several others jumped onto pit road before the end of the segment. Blaney gave up the lead to make his stop, allowing Christopher Bell to score the first stage win of his career. Behind Bell – Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Ty Dillon completed the Top 5 respectively and collected points as well.

CAUTION – LAP 60: The first for-incident caution came for a major wreck in Turn 1 between Kyle Larson and Ty Dillon. The brakes on Larson’s #5 Chevrolet Camaro failed while approaching Turn 1, causing the Hendrick Motorsport driver to sail through the apex at 130mph, making head-on collision into the right side of the #42 of Dillon. The initial impact was so significant that it caused the right-side window to pop out of Dillon’s Chevrolet, while Larson’s car was briefly airborne. Thankfully, both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center after the accident.

The #8 of Tyler Reddick picked up the lead and held it on the restart.

CAUTION – LAP 76: The caution came out with just 8 laps remaining before the checkered flag when the #20 of Christopher Bell dropped debris on the frontstretch. The right-front tire on the #20 blew out and then shredded, which tore the fender off the car.

LAP 79: Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott made up the front row when the race restarted with only 2 laps to go. Heading into Turn 1, Elliott was turned around by Ryan Blaney, who was sandwiched 3-wide between AJ Allmendinger and William Byron. Elliott was able to correct and continue racing, but only after he had fallen to the back of the pack.

CAUTION – LAP 79: While entering Turn 4, the #3 of Austin Dillon was turned by Martin Truex Jr, who locked up the tires. Dillon’s car became stuck in the gravel and needed a tow out of the trap, which brought out the caution.

LAP 84: The race went into overtime and restarted with just two laps remaining. Reddick held onto the lead, while the field went door-to-door behind him. Ross Chastain in the #1 Chevrolet decided to skip Turn 1 entirely and opted to take an access road to rejoin the track in Turn 3. However, there was no reason for Chastain to miss the corner and he gained several spots by doing so, landing in the second position right behind Reddick.

NASCAR announced they were reviewing the incident and eventually deemed Chastain’s move to be illegal, resulting in a 30-second time penalty. NASCAR’s ruling wasn’t declared until after the checkered flag, which arguably altered the finish of the race since Chastain remained in P2 blocking Austin Cindric for the final two laps.

CHECKERED FLAG – LAP 86: Tyler Reddick crossed the line 1-second ahead of Austin Cindric to win his 2nd race of the season and his career.

RESULTS:

1. Tyler Reddick
2. Austin Cindric
3. Harrison Burton
4. Todd Gilliland
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Joey Logano
7. AJ Allmendinger
8. Michael McDowell
9. Cole Custer
10. Chris Buescher
11. Kyle Busch
12. Christopher Bell
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Erik Jones
16. Chase Elliott
17. Ty Gibbs
18. Corey Lajoie
19. Justin Haley
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Martin Truex Je
22. Josh Bilicki
23. Chase Briscoe
24. Cody Ware
25. Josh Williams
26. Ryan Blaney
27. Ross Chastain
28. Daniel Suarez
29. Joey Hand
30. Austin Dillon
31. William Byron
32. Alex Bowman
33. Kevin Harvick
34. Ty Dillon
35. Kyle Larson
36. Danil Kvyat
37. Loris Hezemans
38. Aric Almirola